Director, Baptist Campus Ministry University of Alabama
Why should we invest in the lives of international students studying in the U.S.? According to thetravelingteam.org, only 10 percent of international students are reached by ministries while in the U.S., and 80 percent of international students will return to their countries having never been invited to an American home. Forty percent of the world’s 220 heads of state once studied in the U.S.
My first taste of international student ministry on an American college campus was as a seminary student. As part of a class requirement, I volunteered with the local university’s Baptist Student Ministry each Thursday for their international student night. The programming was simple — pizza and conversation with internationals in the student center. The conversations were mostly about nothing. However, through the “nothing” we laughed a lot, and true friendships were built. I loved the opportunities to show them around the city; introduce them to new sites, new foods and new people; and talk to them about the Bible.
As a campus minister, I want to introduce students to those same kinds of friendships. I want them to develop a Great Commission mindset with the knowledge that to reach the nations, we don’t have to get on an airplane. We just have to be intentional and obedient with the opportunities we have.
On Sept. 5, the University of Alabama (UA)/Shelton Baptist Campus Ministry (BCM) launched English Café. Each Thursday evening, international students are invited to BCM for coffee and conversation where trained volunteers are given conversation guides with questions focused on a different topic each week. While the conversation topics are intentionally not gospel-centered, volunteers are encouraged to meet with internationals outside of English Café in order to build relationships with the ultimate goal of sharing the gospel.
I am excited to report that in the first four weeks we trained 30 collegiate and adult volunteers and have hosted 75 international students at English Café. We are overwhelmed by the response and the relationships being formed because of English Café. God continues to answer specific prayers related to our international student ministry. Kendall Yates, a teacher at UA’s English Language Institute (ELI) and member of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, volunteers as our English Café coordinator. This was her vision, and we are pleased to partner with her in this way. Other teachers in the ELI have offered their students class credit if they attend English Café. Local Tuscaloosa Baptist churches are catching the vision as well and are sending us volunteers and desserts to share on Thursdays.
I ask that you pray for English Café. Set reminders to pray each Thursday evening at 7 p.m. and pray specifically for the salvation of students like:
J — a Colombian student who returns home in November;
O — a Japanese student who comes every week and is open to gospel conversations and who is leaving in December;
A — a Muslim student from Saudi Arabia with three children who acknowledges that Yates has “something” different in her life;
Y — a Chinese student who has been invited to dinner in a volunteer’s home.
The nations are in Alabama, and we have the opportunity to make an eternal impact in the lives of future world leaders if we will make ourselves available.
Share with others: